i usually find it hard to read "business" books. i tried several times, but i find it hard to stay engaged with most of them.

made an exception this time and i am reading Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. a collection of interviews with founders of various startups about the early days. figured i could learn a thing or two.

so far i went through craigslist, paypal, tivo, reasarch in motion, tripadvisor, firefox, flickr, blogger, webtv and hotornot.

most of the interviews are with the more "techy" founder, so there are a lot of stories about non-stop coding, nights without sleep, cold pizza, etc. reminds me more of my days in odigo (my previous start-up where i did some of the early coding). this time i am only using writing in excel, word and PPT.. i still find lots of bugs, and i still create most of these bugs when i am writing in questionable states of consciousness… so i guess not much has changed.

most of these startups became successful by doing something completely different from what their original idea was. which is probably a good testament to the fact that the success of a company is more dependent on the team than on the strength of the idea.

another important ingredient that relates to the previous point is ‘persistence’. being relentless. constantly making changes and adjustments to find a way to succeed.

just found this quote in an email i received today. could not agree more.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not;
the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination
alone are omnipotent." – Calvin Coolidge